Book excerpt: Much has happened to certification and to human factors during the past few years. In this volume, the editors and other specialists discuss the topic of human factors applied to certification. They focus on core topics in the certification process that have emerged in the study of product certification in high-tech industries. The editors' purpose is to document advances in the study of certification processes defined largely by the 1993 international conference on the application of human factors principles to the study of product certification in man-machine systems. Although the book focuses mostly on certification in large, man-machine systems, such as aeronautics, its principles also apply to other high tech industries, such as medicine and computers. An introductory paper and a group of papers presenting propositions and philosophies about human factors contribute to a framework for human factors certification. The papers in this volume: * adopt a more direct approach to certification activities, * deal with aspects of human-machine integration, * address topics that should feature in any established human factors certification of advanced aviation systems, * use ideas that already exist in aviation as a basis for discussing certification issues, * consider issues that arise in the certification of complex future systems, and * describe some current characteristics of human factors as a discipline that would influence its application to certification.